Adequate supplies and a decline in import prices have brought down the wholesale prices of different categories of dates, a commodity highly consumed during Ramadan, compared to their prices last year.

Serajul Islam, general secretary of the Bangladesh Fresh Fruits importers Association, told The Independent: “We import around 45,000 tons of dates every year. But the demand for dates is 35,000 tons during Ramadan alone.”

When asked about the price, Serajul Islam said the wholesale price of ‘Zahedi dates was Tk. 60–65 a kg as against Tk. 70–75 last year. Besides, Nagal date is being sold for Tk. 120–180 per kg and Ajwa dates for Tk. 400–500.

Citing another reason, Serajul Islam said: “We import dates from Iraq, wher they have cultivated a huge amount of the fruit and received high yields. So, import prices have gone down. Usually we import dates from Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Tunisia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt and Pakistan,” he noted. “Though we import dates from abroad, the local market size is worth approximately Tk. 3 billion,” he added.

According to the Bangladesh Fresh Fruits importers Association (BFFIA), i a total of 13,445 tons of dates have been imported during the July–March period of the current fiscal year.